Wading through the Water
by Aeternus.Flamma
Summary: Bel enters Death in pursuit of a Free Magic sorcerer when he knows he really shouldn't. One shot. Written for Otorisosa-kan's lyric prompt exchange, based on the song "Riverside" by Agnes Obel. Characters: Bel, Chlorr


_Wading through the Water_

 _Bel enters Death in pursuit of a Free Magic sorcerer when he knows he really shouldn't. One shot. Written for Otorisosa-kan's lyric prompt exchange, based on the song "Riverside" by Agnes Obel._

 _000_

He shouldn't have come. He should have waited, at the very least. But he should _not_ have risked going into Death with so little protection.

He hadn't had much of a choice, though. Bel was close, _so close_ , to tracking down the necromancer systematically raising the dead. It had taken him months, starting south near the wall and heading north. It was nearing winter already, which meant that it was darkening earlier and earlier each day. And the temperature… well, being near to the Glacier was never exactly warm, it had only worsened with the weather.

Bel hadn't been able to find a river to help shelter himself. It would have made it at least a bit more reassuring knowing that he had a rush of water to help keep the Dead away. When he felt the tingle of Free Magic, the same feeling he had been getting each time he started to near the sorcerer, he knew he didn't have long to act. He needed to stop the sorcerer before he (or she, Bel supposed,) could pull more souls from waters of Death.

It was hard to hear over the rushing of the First Gate, but Bel was sure that he was alone. His prey must have already walked through and passed into the Second Precinct. He did not like to rush, but with a quick to make sure there wasn't anything likely to jump him, Bel hurried forward. He waded through the knee high water, the current urging him forward, and reached the First Gate.

When he crossed into the Second Precinct, he knew he was in trouble. Something was there, waiting for him. It knew Bel had been following. He quickly made to draw upon the Charter, trying to protect himself, but it was too late. He felt a strike at his side, hot as fire, and he fell to his knees. He struggled to stand, but his attacker acted again and hit the back of his shoulder. Bel slipped forward, into a one of the holes in the ground before being carried away toward the whirlpool that was the Second Gate.

He struggled to stand, trying to save himself before he entered the whirlpool. Bel still felt the burning sensation of Free Magic, which made his moments slow. He could not find a way to catch himself before he was sucked through the whirlpool and into the Third Precinct.

It was easy to tell when he was in the Third. He felt the water pushing the opposite way—he had just missed one of the tremendous waves that would have surely carried him further into Death. While it slowed his movement, it wasn't enough to stop him.

Bel continued to flail about wildly until he caught onto something. He was relieved and startled at the same time. There shouldn't have been anything to catch onto .

He felt claws digging into his hand, trying to force him to release whatever it was he was holding. He did not let go—he ignored the clawing and pulled himself to stand upright. It was one of the Dead he had grabbed, a powerful one too, since it had withstood the wave. It made to attack Bel, but he quickly put space between the two and went for his bells. It snarled at him, it's 'face' twisting into further grotesqueness.

Bel could not let this beast get closer to life, even if it meant temporarily abandoning the trail of the Free Magic sorcerer.

Though the thing continued to try to attack him, Bel pulled out Kibeth without any hesitation and rang it—his intention true. The Dead thing howled and jerked forward, one step, two steps… Bel jumped to the side to let it pass as it started its march towards the Third Gate.

Once he was in the clear again, Bel took a moment to do two things: first, he determined that his initial attacker was not in the Third Precinct, and second, he was injured, definitely injured. Being injured in Death was never a good thing. Gathering his resolve and forcing the pain down, Bel started his trudge back towards the whirlpool. It was always harder to free from the bottom.

It took him two tries, but he managed to stop the whirlpool enough to expose the stairs. His climb was rough. His left arm felt almost unusable at this point, he had so much pain. He had barely reached the top before his freezing spell started to fade and the water started slowly flowing again. He broke out into a run to put distance between himself and the whirlpool.

Once he was a safe distance away, Bel stopped and looked around. He couldn't see anyone. Not only that, he couldn't _feel_ anything. Whatever it was, it had left. It had probably gone back towards Life.

He only had about a minute to take a breather and decide what to do before he felt a chill go through his body. Something was trying to break his protection diamond to get to his body.

"No, no, no, _no,"_ he breathed as he started running once more, gathering his strength to break through to the First Precinct.

If something broke his protection diamond, he was done for, truly done for.

How could he be so stupid? He knew he shouldn't have taken this risk, but he was so desperate to catch this sorcerer that he had done it anyhow.

And now he may die. For real, this time.

He burst through the First Gate but didn't stop his run. He could see the border to Life.

"Think of something, anything," he muttered to himself. Why did he deserve to go back to Life? Why did the barrier deserve to let him through?

He thought about the Queen, who was already reluctant to rule. What would she do if the kingdom was overrun by the Dead? She would flee the throne before that happened, surely. What about the people? They would be overcome then raised again, acting as an army for the necromancer causing all of this chaos.

He thought about Lydael, the Clayr he had met just a few months earlier at the Glacier. He hadn't planned on stopping there, but a chain of events led him to helping them for the summer. The two of them had bonded quite well, and he looked forward to stopping back to see her again. He couldn't very well do that if he were _dead._

Bel had reached the wall of light. He braced himself, throwing his arms over his face and jumped towards it with every ounce of energy and positive thought about life he could.

For a moment, he thought that he hadn't made it and that Death had decided to keep him. It was so dark out, he could barely see. But he was definitely in life. Bel felt something grabbing at his leg.

The Dead had managed to penetrate his barrier. He tried to kick it away, but the corpse's grasp was too strong. He drew from the Charter to try to blow it back, but he didn't have the strength to put any power behind his Charter mark. The symbol bore into the creature's rotten skin and it gurgled in pain, but it did not release him.

Another corpse rushed the barrier and fell back. While it tried to stand again, another came from the darkness and tried as well. After two more attempts, both were in his diamond. He had three corpses trying to get at his fleshy bits, and no Charter to help him.

There was a sudden change in the air. The metallic tang of Free Magic caught him off guard, making him almost wretch. He thought for sure that the sorcerer had come to kill him and remove any chance for the country. There was no Abhorsen-In-Waiting, after all. If he died now…

He didn't die, however. There was an awful stench in the air as the three corpses were fried to crisps. He scrambled away as fast as he could and readied his sword, preparing to fight whatever it was waiting in the darkness. Besides the slightly smoking corpses, the air was still—not even the sound of insects or wind in the night.

By the time his eyes had fully adjusted to the light, there was rustling some distance in front of him. It was slow and deliberate, as if showing it weren't trying to sneak up on him.

From a small patch of trees came a figure clad in dark robes. And a bronze mask.

"What are you … Is it you? Are you the Free Magic sorcerer doing all of this?" Bel's insides seemed to tighten. The thought had crossed his mind—that she had returned from the north and succumb to the temptation of Free Magic. That she had turned on him specifically and started to raise the Dead.

She stared at him for a few moments, though he couldn't see her eyes in the darkness, before backing away and disappearing into the forest once more.

No, it wasn't her. Though it appeared she had returned to using Free Magic, Bel recognized her magic signature. It was the same as before, those years ago. It was not that of the being he had been hunting for months. She also wore no bells—a Necromancer couldn't bring mass amounts of Dead across the Life boarder without the Seven Bells.

Bel exhaled deeply, but regretted it immediately when the taste of charred corpses filled his mouth. He really did wretch, this time. He took a moment to gather his things and lean against a tree to try to recover some of his strength. He could try to go after Clariel, if he really wanted, but he knew that she wouldn't want him near her.

To be honest, he doubted he would want to be near her and her Free Magic either.

For now, he would accept her help as the repayment for helping her escape. A life for a life, and now they were even.

Sleep was what he really wanted anyhow. But he trudged along in the darkness, looking for a safer place to make camp. He needed to put some distance between him and the corpses. If those three had been able to find him, then there was no reason that others wouldn't follow. He really needed to find some running water.

A riverside would be particularly nice.

000

 _Author's Notes: so, I haven't written anything for the Old Kingdom series in a very long time. Even when I did, I never posted it. I just finished Clariel, and I thought it had some ups and downs. I understand why many were disappointed in the book. However, I took it as "we aren't reading about how she became Chlorr of the Mast, we're reading how Clariel ceased to exist." I enjoyed seeing some of the Old Kingdom in "all of its glory."_

 _I ultimately ended up using this fandom as my prompt for the lyric challenge for two reasons: one, I had just finished reading Clariel so it was fresh in my mind, and two, because just about every "Abhorsen Fanmix Playlist" included Riverside by Agnes Obel, and I can totally see why. I just kinda listened to it on repeat to dish this little one shot out._

 _The prompt's bonus bits included a "Summer Romance," which I included by creating the Clayr Lydael (to anyone who doesn't know the fandom, Clayr basically have one night stands to continue their lines.) The other prompt was "Character Death." I did more of a play on words where it was a character IN Death._

 _Anyhow, thank you for reading!_

 _Ever your servant,_

 _A.F_


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